A Giles County man paroled from prison after killing two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1981 is now suspected of shooting and wounding two men along the trail in Giles yesterday.

Randall Lee Smith, 54, was in a Roanoke hospital today after crashing a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck into a tree in Giles, said Sgt. Michael Conroy of the Virginia State Police. The truck belongs to one of the two men, who were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Their condition is unknown.

Smith achieved notoriety in 1981 when he shot and stabbed two Maine hikers who were hiking the Appalachian Trail to raise money for retarded and troubled youths. Laura Susan Ramsay, 27, was stabbed more than a dozen times. Robert Mountford Jr., 27, was shot three times. The murders served as the basis for Jess Carr's novel, "Murder on the Appalachian Trail."

In 1982, Smith pleaded guilty to the murders and, as part of an agreement with prosecutors, was sentenced to 30 years in state prison. However, he was paroled in 1996.